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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29982900">Spark something new</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/clottedcreamfudge/pseuds/clottedcreamfudge'>clottedcreamfudge</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Tooth-rotting Malec nonsense [14]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Shadowhunters (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alec Lightwood Has No Chill, Alec Lightwood is Thirsty, Alternate Universe - Human, Banter, Fireworks, Fluff, Gay Disaster Alec Lightwood, I just love these guys a lot okay, Kissing, M/M, Magnus Bane is thirsty, Mutual Pining, Neighbors, Pining, Snow, The thirst continues, Tooth-Rotting Fluff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 17:34:49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,710</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29982900</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/clottedcreamfudge/pseuds/clottedcreamfudge</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>So, what this all comes down to is that Magnus has a completely inexplicable crush on his attractive neighbour, who seems to regard him in return with suspicion and outright hostility. Not an ideal situation, but one that he can abide for the time being; he’ll just have to be <i>extra</i> charming whenever they cross paths. And he’s already pretty fucking charming.</p><p>Magnus might also do a lot of things shirtless where Alec might be able to see him, in the hopes that it’ll get a rise out of him. Alec <i>does</i> walk into his mailbox one morning when Magnus is mowing the lawn in nothing but a pair of sweatpants, but that could be a coincidence. He’s going to have to repeat the experiment a few more times in order to test his hypothesis - his hypothesis being that Alec’s just mad Magnus is making him think gay thoughts with his nubile body.</p><p>➼</p><p>Alec's still a gay disaster, but it's working out okay for him. Magnus thinks so, anyway.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Tooth-rotting Malec nonsense [14]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2170269</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>55</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>288</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Spark something new</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It’s been two months since Magnus moved into his new place and he’s starting to wonder what he’s done to his hot, angry neighbour to make him so openly hostile. Magnus has been nothing but friendly, even going so far as to introduce himself on the first day he’d arrived - arguably the responsibility of the existing residents, and not the newcomer. He’d managed to hold a decent conversation from <em>his</em> side, in spite of everything, but Lightwood - <em>Alexander</em> - had not been so inclined.</p><p>And if Magnus can hold a conversation with an incredibly tall, beautiful, tousle-haired Adonis without so much as stumbling over a consonant, he expects the same courtesy from others.</p><p>There’s the possibility, of course, that Alec is offended by Magnus being openly queer; he’s never attempted to hide it and he’s not about to start now. He’s also very much <em>not white</em>, which means something to some people, apparently. The thing is though, as much as this is based entirely on guesswork and conjecture, Magnus is pretty sure his neighbour isn’t straight; while this doesn’t preclude the possibility of him being homophobic, it does make it a little less likely. Magnus has also seen him helping pretty much every elderly couple on the street with their groceries, and it seems as though he smiles just as warmly at everyone, regardless of their skin colour.</p><p>Oh, and the man’s smile? Magnus can’t even look at it for too long. It’s breathtaking.</p><p>(And also very pointedly never aimed in Magnus’s direction, more’s the pity.)</p><p>So, what this all comes down to is that Magnus has a completely inexplicable crush on his attractive neighbour, who seems to regard him in return with suspicion and outright hostility. Not an ideal situation, but one that he can abide for the time being; he’ll just have to be <em>extra</em> charming whenever they cross paths. And he’s already pretty fucking charming.</p><p>Magnus might also do a lot of things shirtless where Alec might be able to see him, in the hopes that it’ll get a rise out of him. Alec <em>does</em> walk into his mailbox one morning when Magnus is mowing the lawn in nothing but a pair of sweatpants, but that could be a coincidence. He’s going to have to repeat the experiment a few more times in order to test his hypothesis - his hypothesis being that Alec’s just mad Magnus is making him think gay thoughts with his nubile body.</p><p>➼</p><p>One of the reasons Magnus chose this house, when he made the (objectively insane, according to his friends) decision to move out of central NY and into the suburbs, was because of the wide-open spaces just beyond his back door. There are miles of fields, and Magnus finds that the green, empty expanse helps to focus and centre him during his morning yoga practice.</p><p>What he hadn't been expecting were the impressive firework displays.</p><p>It’s November, and a frost has set in that warrants a certain amount of wrapping up in order for Magnus to use the swing he installed on his back porch; it’s worth it though, since the chill of the night is offset - albeit also <em>enabled</em> - by clear skies that twinkle with stars. He can’t name a single one of them, but the canvas above him is littered with them. It’s hard not to miss the bustle of the city sometimes, Magnus thinks as he pulls a blanket tighter around himself to ward off the cold. However, nights like this make it worth the move.</p><p>Then he almost jumps out of his skin as a firework lights up the sky not too far away, the sound of it echoing across the empty fields as the unexpected change in light quality burns an image into Magnus’s retinas. Once he’s over the initial shock, he feels himself smiling; firework displays in the city were always grand and impressive, but this is certainly the best seat he’s ever had to one.</p><p>He watches in awed enjoyment as Catherine wheels and rockets light up his backyard, and finds himself longing for something warm to hold between his palms - perhaps spiked with a little rum to keep out the chill. He has the means - rum and various other liquors are usually available within arm’s reach in any kitchen of his - but he feels a little like he’s under a spell, mesmerised by the twinkling lights and the vapour of his own breath in front of him.</p><p>The spell is broken, however, when he sees movement out the corner of his eye. His attractive, standoffish neighbour, Alec, is on the other side of the fence, and he’s <em>staring right at Magnus</em>.</p><p>“Nice night,” Magnus says conversationally, raising his voice above the clamour of fireworks to let Alec know that he’s been caught doing - what? <em>Judging</em> Magnus for his blanket and slipper socks combination or something, probably. He’s not even really sure. Alec startles, as though he hadn’t even realised he’d been staring, and even in the sporadic flashes of light he looks a little bit panicked.</p><p>Magnus has a little tally chart in his head, which he started directly after his first, stilted conversation with his neighbour. In the first column he marks down the times he’s thought, “oh god, he’s cute,” and in the second he marks down the times he’s thought, “I’m almost certain Alec’s having a gay panic right now.” He silently puts a check in each column on this occasion.</p><p>(If he’s honest, <em>every </em>time he sees Alec, he puts a check in the first column. Boy is hot like burning and he has <em>eyes</em>.)</p><p>“Yeah,” Alec says eventually, and his low voice carries beautifully over the crackling and fizzing above them without any effort at all, it seems. Magnus puts another check in column one. If this were a physical tally chart, he’d be running out of space by now, frankly.</p><p>“Do you come here often?” he asks teasingly, and Magnus would have to be blind not to see the flush on Alec’s cheeks from here, even though there’s barely any light but the fireworks to see by. A check in <em>both</em> columns there. God, he looks just gorgeous like this - almost ethereal. He’d have torn through the paper of any physical tally chart by now with the force of the check he puts in column one.  </p><p>“I’m just tall,” Alec says eventually, sounding defensive as he crosses his arms. “These fences aren’t very high.”</p><p>“I said absolutely nothing accusatory, darling,” Magnus says calmly, if only to see if that blush will spread. It does - <em>check, check.</em> Alec stares at him some more, and Magnus finds the attention oddly gratifying, even though he has no idea what the look on Alec’s face means; there’s no shame in enjoying being looked at, especially by someone as attractive as Alexander Lightwood.</p><p>“I’ve noticed that you wash your foil before you put it in recycling,” Alec says, apropos of <em>nothing at all</em>, then adds, “that’s good.” Magnus stares at him for a moment, blinking as he tries to understand whether or not this is some elaborate neighbourhood hazing ritual - which means he sees <em>precisely </em>when Alec realises what he’s just said. A look of horror passes across his face and he nods stiffly at Magnus, before turning around and marching back inside his house, slamming the door behind him.</p><p>“What,” Magnus says aloud, “the actual fuck.”</p><p>➼</p><p>“I can’t believe you’re reminding me of this now,” Alec whines, burying his face in a pillow as Magnus laughs delightedly next to him. “I considered drowning myself in the bath after that, thank you very much.”</p><p>“I actually ended up Googling ‘recycling kink’,” Magnus says, barely holding back a snort of laughter at Alec’s pained groan. “Especially after that tremendously odd moment a month later where you complimented me on my bin cleaning regime.”</p><p>“This is awful, I’m leaving,” Alec says, making absolutely no move to go anywhere at all. Magnus lays a hand on his bare back and starts to walk his fingers up Alec’s spine, enjoying the shiver it pulls from him.</p><p>“You’ll have to find your underwear first, Alexander,” he says in a low voice, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. “I’m not sure where it ended up. Who knows how long that will take?” Alec turns his head so he can glare at Magnus more actively, but the look is slightly tempered by the heat in his eyes; Magnus’s pulse jumps to see it there, so new and incredibly addictive.</p><p>“Maybe you should be less careless with your neighbour’s underwear,” Alec says flatly, but when Magnus laughs and drags him into a kiss, he doesn’t voice any further complaints about the misuse of his wardrobe.</p><p>➼</p><p>Later - <em>much</em> later - Alec admits that he’d liked the way Magnus looked in the light from the fireworks.</p><p>“You were already, you know,” he says, waving a hand at Magnus like that explains everything, “but you looked so… <em>magical </em>just then.” Alec flushes and drops his hand, like that hadn’t been what he’d meant to say at all. Magnus, flushed for entirely different reasons, slides his hand into Alec’s on the silk sheets and tangles their fingers together.</p><p>“That night, when I saw you,” Magnus says warmly, voice quiet in the hush of the darkening room, “I thought to myself - <em>god, </em>he’s so beautiful. Ethereal, even. I really hope I’m giving him a sexuality crisis.” Alec snorts out a laugh, but he looks quietly pleased, blushing easily as he apparently does with some regularity around Magnus.</p><p>“Yeah, that ship sailed a while ago,” he says, grinning now, and Magnus wonders how quickly someone can fall in love. He thinks, right now, that it might be the time it takes for a smile to spread across a face as beautiful as Alec’s.</p><p>“Well, in that case - mind if I climb aboard?” Magnus asks, and it’s worth the shame of telling such an objectively terrible joke - lewd, waggling eyebrows included - for the startled laugh it drags from Alec.</p><p>“You’re terrible,” Alec says, voice warm with affection. He does, however, allow Magnus to <em>climb aboard.</em></p><p>It starts to snow outside again, and Magnus has never cared less in his life. He might never leave this bed anyway; what’s a little snowfall?</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Fireworks! This was just a cute idea I ended up writing in the comments of SBD, and it was dumb enough that I wanted to write it. ENJOY (Especially you, Ponk).</p><p>You don't have to have read 'Snow big deal' for this to make sense, but it will certainly help.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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